Journal

Here, a photo collection from Rose Liu—who we tapped on the shoulder when we uncovered her photography—and her search for home. Liu just left her home base in New York to temporarily resettle with her family in Shanghai, a place she left at sixteen: alone. So, it’s a return home that’s steeped, actually, in homesickness for the American city she’s since grown into.

"Photography has always served as therapeutic to me. I left for the U.S when I was 16, alone. I would visit China occasionally but never stayed longer than 2 months. I am so used to living out of a suitcase, even my own bedroom at home feels foreign to me—let alone the culture here. Home is such a simple word, and "where are you from" is such an easy question to give an answer to...for most people. I have definitely complicated the traditional concept of home by living in 3 different countries over the past 8 years (if i include my home country that would make it 4; I even lived in Alaska at one point). I am still trying to figure out what my definition of "home" is, but I am certain that it is definitely not any specific city. A sense of belonging has always been a running theme in my photography work; I never felt I belonged to or fit in, no matter where I lived, until I moved to New York two years ago after college. I felt at home in New York, in the way that I could see myself grow old there. However, it's still different from my home in Shanghai. How I feel about New York is more spiritual whereas how I feel about Shanghai is more physic. I feel at ease in both places; but they are different kinds of comfort. I once read somewhere that "once a place gains the title of home, such a privilege is never taken away"; that's how I feel about Shanghai." Rose Liu

Volume Two

$24.00

Haven Volume Two chronicles intimate stories of travels abroad and journeys home—stories of musicians, lovers, mothers, off-road adventures and families who gather around the table. From Cincinnati to Craters of the Moon, this volume celebrates what it means to find home.